Jeremy Rifkin

    is an American economist, environmentalist, political scientist and writer. He chairs the Foundation on Economic Trends. His most influential books include The Hydrogen Economy; The European Dream; The End of Work: A Biotech Century. For the past 10 years he has been advising the European Union and is the architect of the Third Industrial Revolution, a long-term plan of economically sustainable development, endorsed by the European Parliament, that addresses the global economic crisis, energy security and climate change. „However falteringly, Europeans are at least coming to grips with the reality that the fossil fuel era is dying, and they are beginning to chart a course into a green future. Unfortunately, Americans, for the most part, continue to be in a state of denial, not wishing to acknowledge that the economic system that served us so well in the past is now on life support. Like Europe, we need to own up and pony up. But what can we bring to the party? While Europe has come up with a compelling narrative, no one can tell a story better than America. Madison Avenue, Hollywood, and Silicon Valley excel at this. What has distinguished America is not so much our manufacturing acumen or military prowess, but our uncanny ability to envision the future with such vividness and clarity that people feel as if they’ve arrived even before they’ve left the station.“